The city of Alamara didn't sleep—not when blood stained ballrooms and secrets hid beneath glittering gowns.
Juliette Voss sat alone at the Midnight Rose Café, sipping black coffee, her crimson dress now replaced with a sleek black leather coat that hugged her slender frame. Her eyes—icy blue—scanned the city through the glass. She had a list. And Ochieng was at the top of it.
Across the table, a voice spoke through her earpiece.
> "He's gone underground. Liliana helped him disappear. But we still have leverage."
Juliette smirked. "Perfect. Let's see how far he'll run… before he breaks."
-
Naomi sat beside Dr. Kane, her hands trembling as she recounted what she saw—what she didn't see.
"Someone's framing me," she said, clutching her arm.
Kane, still in his blood-stained shirt, leaned against the wall. "Raymond's death wasn't about you. It was a warning."
Naomi's breath hitched. "To who?"
"Ochieng."
---
In a dark hotel room above a small flower shop in Riverside Town, Ochieng sat cross-legged on the floor, shirtless, bruised. His once-carefree face now carried a storm.
With him were Zara and Celeste, both freshly disguised. Celeste had chopped her hair. Zara had gone full glam goth—red contacts and a black lipstick.
"We can't run forever," Zara hissed.
"We're not running," Ochieng replied. "We're resetting the game."
A knock on the door.
A new face entered:
Nikita Alvaréz, 23, an infamous tech hacker and once the adopted daughter of billionaire arms dealer Gregory King. Curvy, short-tempered, tattooed sleeves up her arms and nose-ring glinting under the dim light.
"I decrypted the last message Raymond sent before he died," Nikita said. "And Ochieng… it had your name. And hers."
She tossed a folder onto the table. A photo slid out.
Naomi—laughing, holding hands—with a man no one recognized.
"Who's that?" Celeste asked.
Nikita lit a cigarette. "Her husband."
---
On a rooftop across town, Ivy leaned over a balcony, eyes on a sniper scope.
"Target number two locked," she whispered.
Beside her was Dr. Miles Carver, the forensic lecturer rumored to have left a top intelligence agency. Tall, muscular, detached—he cleaned the barrel of a rifle.
"Ivy… are you ready to burn everything?"
She didn't look away from the scope. "I already lit the match."
--
Back in the hidden hotel room, Ochieng opened a hidden compartment under the floorboards.
He retrieved a velvet box. Inside—an engagement ring.
Zara stared. "You were going to propose?"
He nodded, slowly.
"To Naomi?"
He paused. Looked up.
"No. To Ivy."
---